National Film Heritage Mission of
India, a Welcome Step in Preserving The Film Legacy: Milton Shefter
It is sixteen times more
expensive to restore and preserve digital records compared to that of celluloid
films according to Milton Shefter, an eminent member of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences. “The two methods of capturing and storing information
have both advantages and disadvantages ,but I personally prefer celluloid tapes
as keeping and maintaining digital records are laborious and cost intensive.
With temperature and humidity regulation, celluloid tapes can be preserved for
centuries but same does not hold for digital films,” disclosed Milton Shefter
in a media interaction session of the 46th International Film Festival of India. Milton lauded the efforts of the Government
in coming out with a project like National Film Heritage Mission and
appreciated its commitment to preserve classic films for future generation. Responding
to a question, Shefter highlighted the need for innovation in finding a
‘durable medium’ in storing and preserving film records. Regarding the
cataloguing of archival records, he said that there are standard practices and
systems in place though the process is challenging. Milton shared his knowledge
on film preservation and restoration, in the ‘Master class’ Session. He is
known for the two reports he co-authored, ‘The Digital Dilemma” which has been
the subject of numerous international press reports and discourses on film
preservation.He continues to work and lecture worldwide on issues of media
asset preservation and the effects of the digital technologies on long term
access of created content. He has presented Master classes on media asset
preservation digital issues at several Film Festivals, focusing on emerging
filmmakers. Milton R. Shefter is the President of Miljoy Entertainment Inc, a
Project Management Consultancy specializing in media asset preservation. He
worked on major preservation projects with Hollywood Studios including the
Paramount Pictures library/archival project to catalogue, inspect, repair and
build archives in several locations to house their moving image and recorded
sound collection.He received the Society’s (Society Of Motion Picture And
Television Engineers) Archival medal for his work as a leader in media
preservation. He is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Science and Technology Council. He chairs the American Society of
Cinematographers annual outstanding Achievement Awards and received that
organization’s Outstanding Service Award.
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